ICICI Bank Q3: The shares of the banking firm witnessed a rise of nearly 2% on Monday despite benchmark indices— Sensex and Nifty—experiencing a major downtrend. The optimism came after the bank released its Q3 results, delivering a 15% year-on-year (YoY) surge in profit levels.
This was largely driven by lower-than-anticipated provisions and reduced credit costs. Loan growth stood at 13.9% YoY, which was much higher than its peers. However, the retail growth trend took a soft turn for ICICI Bank. Deposit growth also took a modest trajectory and grew by 14.1%.
At 12:50 pm, ICICI Bank shares were trading at Rs 1,223.90 price level, up by nearly 1.22% on the National Stock Exchange.
While net interest income (NII) surged by 9.1 YoY, net interest margin (NIM) declined by 2bps QoQ to 4.25%. But again this drop was in-line with the expectations.
As for the asset quality, the bank reported a slight rise in slippages, but overall, its asset quality remained much better than peers according to analysts.
During the last 3 months, Bank Nifty has declined by over 5%.
"The key highlight was curtailed slippages, well balanced growth and stability across key metrics. Investors may have a transitionary concern on below-trend core pre-provision operating profit (PPoP) growth, but this is not unique to the bank, but an industry phenomenon and would eventually align with a strong compounding story," Elara Capital said in a report.
Should you buy, hold or sell?
ICICI Bank’s robust Q3 results have prompted brokerage firms to adopt a more optimistic outlook on the stock.
"With the transition for HDFC Bank, embargo on Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank is a clean play on best-in-class ROA. It should trade at a premium on high-quality earnings," Elara Capital said in a report. The brokerage firm has maintained its Buy rating with a target price of Rs 1,483.
The bank's robust performance despite a challenging and relatively uncertain environment has managed to uplift the sentiment around the stock, which has declined by nearly 5% since the advent of 2025. ICICI Bank's CASA ratio surged 10 bps sequentially to 39% and the gross NPA ratio declined by 1bps during the same period to 1.96%.
"The bank's substantial investment in technology offers some cushion while continued productivity gains have helped maintain a tight leash on cost ratios. A steady mix of high-yielding portfolio and broad-based growth across product lines are enabling profitable growth while maintaining healthy business diversification," Motilal Oswal stated in a report. The brokerage firm has maintained its Buy rating on the stock with a revised target price of Rs 1,550.
